Who We Are

Mission Statement:

To empower Queer and Trans survivors of sexual violence through community building, education, empowerment, and art. We create workshops, organize community events, and use art to empower Queer and Trans survivors of sexual assault.

About:

In Solidarity, We Resist started in 2015 by Charmaine Renee as the Inaugural Artist in Residence at the Wright State University’s Women’s Center. It began as a campus wide call for student’s stories of sexual assault and grew into a student led speak out, workshops, a performance piece, and a quilt.

ISWR continued in 2016 by a separate group of students who proudly continued the work and continued to grow the community of survivors on Wright State’s Campus.

We are growing again in 2017 by widening our community to the Greater Dayton Area and focusing on Queer and Trans Survivors. We also, for the first time, have an artist in residence!

We hold these as our Core Values:

Reclaim Public Space to Validate Survivors’ Stories: Survivors of sexual violence have experienced a history of being silenced and ignored and this project works to actively resists and challenge this history.

Empower Survivors: Ultimately, the reason for reclaiming space is to empower survivors and give them a sense of control over their own experiences.

Educate Students about Consent and Sexual Assault: Through the sharing of survivors’ experiences and distributing resources about consent, those who come in contact with the event will gain a greater understanding of consent and sexual assault.

Gender Inclusion and Intersectional Feminism: This project demands validation, space, and empowerment for all survivors. We reject a singular narrative. The rape culture that permeates our society has affected all genders. It is important to prioritize the marginalized, ask for pronouns, use thoughtful language like “all genders,” and never make assumptions regarding identity. In documents created for this project, it is necessary to use statistics that are inclusive and to bring attention to marginalized identities including (dis)abled, racial, and transgender identities.

Who Are We?

Charmaine Renee – Creator & Founder

Charmaine (They/Them pronouns) is a genderqueer maker who created In Solidarity, We Resist in 2014. They graduated from Wright State University in 2015 majoring in Fine Arts with an emphasis in sculpture and a Minor in Women’s Studies. They continue to make work dealing with trauma, healing, and identity.

Jesper Beckholt – Inaugural Artist in Residence

Jesper (They/Them pronouns) is a pangender artist, activist, and professional horror movie nerd known for being a big ball of emotion and creating honest, relatable, and educational illustrations.